Album Review: Water & Bodies - Light Year

'Light Year' is the debut album from Water & Bodies, a record that draws influence from any number of sources but ultimately fails to convincingly drag itself from the middle of the road. Opener 'Celebration Song' takes rather a long time to get going and even when it does, it feels a little hollow, nevertheless, next song 'Free World' goes some way to redeeming this with some strong vocal melodies and soaring guitars

There truly are some nice elements in the mix; the heavily Incubus-influenced 'Lonely Night' has got a decent groove and the best chorus of the bunch with its fuzzy guitars and anxious rythms, while 'Moments In A Life' is propelled along by a subtle yet effective synth line. 

Too often however it's just too self indulgent. 'Written & Read' meanders along without really going anywhere, the chorus falling somewhat short of the emotion it aims for and title track 'Light Year' does much the same... but with more delay. When it is bad though, it's awful as on 'Echoes', the vocal line of which sounds as if it was recorded for a different song and pasted on top as an afterthought.

It would be unfair to say that 'Light Year' was truly a poor record but it's not a good one either. Having used Kickstarter to raise the capital for the recording through their fan base (a decent effort), I can't help but think that it may leave some of the contributors a little cold. I suppose that's how 'Light Year' leaves me. It shows glimpses of potential in places but these moments are, for the most part, lost in the noise. 

2/5

'Light Year' by Water and Bodies is available now.

Official Website
Water and Bodies on MySpace and Twitter.

Nick Worpole